


Into the Future (What Comes Next)

by Jedflah



Category: Back to the Future (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, Missing Scene, Post-Canon, Slice of Life, kinda dialogue heavy?, time to unpack the time travel baggage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:47:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26396647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jedflah/pseuds/Jedflah
Summary: A collection of short stories of what happens to Marty after the end of the trilogy.
Relationships: Clara Clayton & Marty McFly, Emmett "Doc" Brown & Marty McFly, Emmett "Doc" Brown/Clara Clayton, George McFly & Marty McFly, George McFly/Lorraine Baines McFly, Marty McFly/Jennifer Parker
Comments: 17
Kudos: 29





	1. Eastwood Ravine

**Author's Note:**

> [Disclaimer: These stories use the movies and the Telltale game as the base for canon and will allude to both properties. The comics and animated series have no bearing on what happens in these stories. This work is in no way canon as it is fanfiction and is composed of what I personally imagine happening next. I do not own Back to the Future nor its characters.]

**Sunday October 27, 1985, 12:04 PM**

The screeching tires and smell of burning rubber was already enough to put Jennifer on edge. When the truck had reversed and spun around, she would have blown chunks had she had anything to eat since the day before.

Marty and Jennifer turned around to watch Needles and his gang speed off in the distance. “Did you do that on purpose?” she cried.

“Yeah, you think I’m stupid enough to race that asshole?” Marty replied.

The couple then heard horns blaring as the red truck veered out of the way of a white Rolls-Royce.

“Woah,” Marty said with a whistle, “I could’ve hit that Rolls-Royce!”

Jennifer pulled out the paper from the pocket of her vest. The CusCo logo adorned the top of the page with the words, “YOU’RE FIRED!!!” in large letters. At least, the letters were there until they faded away before Jennifer’s eyes. “It erased!” she said in a hushed voice.

Marty shifted the gears and casually straightened out the truck. “So, what were you saying earlier, Jen?”

Jennifer stuffed the now blank fax back into her pocket. “You and Doc took me to the future didn’t you? It wasn’t a dream, was it? And,” she looked at what Marty was wearing again, “Why are you dressed like that? Is that how people dress in the future?”

Marty sighed and drummed his thumb on the steering wheel. “No, I just came back from a week in 1885. It’s a long story. These last two weeks for me have been non-stop chaos. I’m just glad to be home right now.”

“Well, I have time to listen. Why don’t you tell me on the way to the train tracks?”

Marty glanced at Jennifer and smiled. “Alright, here goes.”

\---

As the locomotive time machine rose into the air and into the future, Marty couldn’t help but feel a pit form in his stomach. 

“Hey, I think I figured it out!” Jennifer exclaimed.

“Figured what out?”

“Well,” she held up the paper so Marty could see, “back in 2015 I was in our house in Hilldale, and your parents over for dinner. I heard your mom talk about how you were in an accident with a Rolls-Royce, and you broke your hand and gave up on your music because of that.”

“But I backed out of that race just today!”

“Exactly! So now you’re on a different path for the future. It’s like what Doc said! It isn’t written yet!”

Marty made his way back to the truck. “Yeah, that’s great. Just perfect,” he said.

Jennifer stuffed the paper back into her vest pocket and followed behind Marty. “What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy you got to see Doc one more time?”

“How old do you think they were, Jen?”

“What?”

“His kids, Jen. How old do you think they were?”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

Marty took off his bandana and raked his hand back through his hair. “Doc hasn’t seen me in what, six or seven years and that’s all he has to say? He’s not even gonna stick around just for a little while longer? I mean, I’m glad he’s alive and well, but what gives?”

“Well,” Jennifer rubbed the back of her neck (a mannerism she picked up from Marty), “you gotta consider what he’s probably thinking, right? I mean, Doc’s been living by himself for a long time. It would look weird if he suddenly had a wife and kids that appeared seemingly overnight. His reputation in town already isn’t the best as it is already, y’know.”

“I know, I know. Still, it just doesn’t sit right with me. I mean, I’m happy for him! Really, I am! He’s my best friend and he’s living the life he deserves. I just hope he won’t forget about me.”

Jennifer put her hand on Marty’s shoulder. “Doc’s not gonna forget about you, Marty! How could he? After all you two have been through together, I don’t think it would even cross his mind to forget you. And who knows? Maybe he’s already visited you at some point in the future and you just have to catch up to him.”

Marty gave a bittersweet smile as he placed his own hand over Jennifer’s. “As always, you’re right, Jen. Where would I be without you?”

“Probably in the hospital with a broken hand. Now c’mon, let’s go get something to eat. I’m starving!” As the two teens filed back into the truck, Jennifer caught sight of the sign for the ravine. “Wasn’t it Clayton Ravine? Y’know as like a memorial to the teacher that fell in a hundred years ago?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah it was named that, but then Doc kinda saved her life. You saw her just now on the train actually!”

“Heavy. So it’s Eastwood Ravine now, huh?”

“Yeah that was my alias back in 1885. Clint Eastwood.”

Jennifer let out a small chuckle and gave Marty a soft punch to the shoulder. “You dork.”

“Hey I have become Clint Eastwood!” he said while opening the driver’s side door.

“You didn’t become shit!” Jennifer replied, climbing into the passenger’s side.

“I have become him.”

“Alright,  _ Clint _ , let’s go get some food already!”


	2. How Far We've Come

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After four years, eight rounds of mid-terms and finals, four homecoming dances, two proms, and just barely scraping by with a 2.0 GPA, Marty McFly is graduating.

**Friday June 6, 1986, 6:31 PM**

“Y’know I’m surprised that you never learned how to tie a tie. I thought your dad or one of the guys would’ve taught you or something.” Jennifer had finished straightening up Marty’s tie and smoothed back his hair. “I never say it enough, but you do clean up nice,” she said with a warm smile.

Marty smirked as he loosened his tie a bit. “Thanks a lot, Jen. I’m sure one of these days I’ll get the hang of this whole thing. How ‘bout you? You ready for your big speech tonight?”

Jennifer shrugged. “Eh, I’m a little nervous. Public speaking isn’t really my forte. I mean, what if I screw up or flub my lines?”

Marty handed Jennifer her cap and gown from the paper bag on her bed. “You’ll be fine! You’ve rehearsed that speech so much, I bet you can recite it in your sleep. And even if you make a mistake or two, it’s not the end of the world! I know you’re gonna do great.” He planted a kiss on her cheek before putting on his own cap and gown. “And I think everyone will be grateful that it’s short and sweet.”

“Hmm, short and sweet. That should be my new nickname for you. We should get going though. Wouldn’t wanna be late!”

It was taking Marty a bit longer to acclimate to normal life after his most recent trip through time last month. It had been much more physically and emotionally draining than his first few adventures from October of last year. Of course, Jennifer and his band had certainly helped him keep his mind off his more existential problems. He had finals to complete and demo tapes to record. And now that Doc and his family were staying in 1986, Marty’s own time travel related anxieties were greatly eased to a certain extent.

As Marty pulled into the school parking lot, he took one long look at the graffiti ridden building. “Weirdly enough, I think I’m gonna miss it, Jen,” he sighed.

“Yeah, it’s gonna feel weird to not have to wake up at six AM every morning once September rolls around again. I definitely won’t miss the smell of cigarettes in the girl’s bathroom, that’s for sure. If I die from secondhand smoke related causes, I’m suing Tiff from the afterlife.”

Marty looked back at Jennifer and cracked a smirk. “Hey, you never told me if you heard back from any of those schools you applied to.”

“Hmm? Oh! Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I totally meant to, but I guess I was just so excited I forgot I didn’t tell you. I got into Stanford!” she said as her face lit up.

Marty beamed at the news and pulled Jennifer into a hug. “That’s great, Jen! I’m so happy for you!” He parted to look her in the eye. “I know how hard you worked for this, and I know you’re gonna be great!”

Jennifer smiled at the floor of Marty’s truck and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “Thanks, Marty. Are you gonna be okay not having me around every day?”

Marty swatted the air and gave Jennifer a kiss on the cheek. “It’ll be tough, but I think I’ll survive. Besides, I  _ will _ call you every night and I’ll visit you every weekend! You’ll only be what, two hours away?”

“You’re sweet, Marty. What did I ever do to deserve a guy like you?”

“I ask myself the same question about you every night.” He checked his watch. “Oh jeez, we better head in. They’re probably panicking trying to figure out where their valedictorian is.”

Jennifer took a deep breath. “Oh, I’m sure they’re not panicking any more than I am about this speech.”

Marty placed his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, if you can get accepted into Stanford, you can give this speech. Remember what Doc’s always saying?”

“Right.” She took another deep breath. “Alright, let’s do this.”

The Hill Valley High School graduating class of 1986 was small enough to where everyone could fit onto the football field. The grass had been temporarily replaced by a sea of maroon robes and caps. The bleachers had been so packed full of parents and underclassmen, it made it nearly impossible for Marty to spot his own family among the crowd. Then again, it wasn’t exactly easy for them to pick out where he was due to the identical nature of the caps and gowns.

Marty, like most of the student body, had tuned out what principal Strickland was saying for his opening address. Unfortunately for everyone, Strickland had not bothered to care about the duration of his own commencement speech, nor did he take into account that there were three more speakers following him. 

When he finally ceded the floor to the next speaker, Marty perked up. He did help Jennifer write her speech after all.

“Thank you, Mr. Strickland. I know we’ll all take your advice to heart.” He had not given any advice in his speech. “I’ll try to keep this short since I know we have a long night ahead of us. Four years ago, we all walked through those doors together for the first time. Now, we’re all sitting side by side waiting to take the first steps of the rest of our lives. There’s no telling what the future has for each of us, and it’s probably better if we don’t know what’s waiting for is. We have to go out there and find it.” 

She bit her lip and glanced down at her notecard again before looking out into the crowd of her peers, locking onto Marty’s eyes. “The truth is, the future isn’t written yet. No one’s is. I know how scary that can be to think about, not knowing what’s in store for us, but perhaps it’s better if we don’t know the ending. To quote a good friend of mine, ‘The future is whatever we make of it, so let’s make it a good one.’ Here’s to the class of ‘86, and here’s to the future.”

Staying awake for the rest of the ceremony proved to be quite the struggle for Marty. Hearing the names of his peers be called out loud and waiting for them to cross the stage only has so much entertainment value. By the time his name was called, Marty’s leg had fallen asleep. 

Although the walk up to the stage was incredibly painful with the pins and needles effect, Marty still held his head high. He greeted Strickland with a smug grin as he received his diploma. As his principal begrudgingly shook Marty’s hand, he couldn’t help but feel overwhelmingly proud of himself. True, his GPA wasn’t the highest it could have been, but the fact that he was here tonight at all said so much about all the work he put in to get here. That much Strickland couldn’t deny.

When the ceremony was finally over and Marty had retrieved his cap after flinging it into the air moments before, he went to find his friends, but ended up finding his parents first. “Oh, Marty, you look so handsome! Now if only you put that much effort into cleaning up that well whenever we went to mass,” he heard Lorraine say as he approached them.

“Oh come on! We only ever go for Easter and Christmas, it’s a miracle I’m able to get my tie on!” Marty groaned.

“Well, you got me there,” she replied with a slight smile. “Still, I can’t say enough times how proud I am.” She grabbed George’s hand. “How proud we  _ both _ are of you.”

Ever since Marty arrived in the new timeline back in October, he had heard those words much more often. “We’re proud of you.” He could count on one hand how many times he heard that while growing up, but now in this better timeline, he stopped keeping track back in January. Sure, hearing it so often got on his nerves a little bit, but he figured that it was better than not hearing it at all. It was just one of those things he had to get used to along with the rest of the new timeline.

Still, he couldn’t help but throw his arms around the both of them. There was no shadow of a doubt that this George and Lorraine really meant it every time they expressed their pride in him.

_ Change clattered on the polished surface as Marty emptied his piggy bank out onto the kitchen table. On top of all the coins, he fished out the folded up paper money he had been stuffing in there. Once the money had been liberated from its plastic enclosure, Marty pushed the pile towards his parents who were sitting in front of him.  _

_ “There. It took three months of walking dogs, mowing lawns, and washing windows, but I finally have half the money for the guitar! The black six string one! Can we go get it today, please, Dad?” the eleven-year-old pleaded. _

_ George rubbed his chin. “Well, I’m not sure if we can go today, Marty. It’s pouring outside, and I’m not even sure if it’ll fit in the trunk,” he said. _

_ “It’s okay, I can hold onto it! It can take my seat and I’ll walk home even!” _

_ “Hmm. Lorraine, dear, what do you think?” _

_ “I dunno, George, I think I need a moment to walk around and think.” As she got up from her seat and made her way down the hallway, Marty couldn’t help but feel just a little disappointed. The deal was if he could scrounge up half the money, his parents would cover the rest, and now here they were backing out? But before he could start arguing, Lorraine cried out from the hallway, “Oh wow! What’s this?” _

_ “What? What’s what, Mom?” _

_ Lorraine returned to the kitchen with a warm smile on her face as she presented what was distinctly a guitar wrapped up in bright red wrapping paper. Marty nearly fell out of his chair at the sight of it! _

_ “That’s for me? But I thought--” _

_ “Well, after we shook on the deal, your mother and I figured by the time you were able to secure all the funds, the likelihood of the guitar you wanted wouldn’t be there anymore, so we went out and got it for you,” George explained as Marty shredded off the wrapping paper. “And don’t worry about the money. You can keep it and use it to buy something else you really want. You’ve earned it, after all, and your mother and I are very proud of you!” _

_ “I… I don’t know what to say! Thank you so much you guys!” _

Of course that wasn’t how Marty remembered it. He knew that the original Marty from this timeline went through that, but it’s not what happened to him. Still, it happened to at least one Marty even if it wasn’t him.

When Marty stepped away, he loosened his tie a bit more and smoothed back his hair. “Uh, I’m gonna go find Jennifer. We were gonna meet up with the guys later tonight and take Lee’s new car out for a spin.”

“Alright, well don’t stay out too late. Oh! Let me get a picture before you leave!” Lorraine fished out a small polaroid camera from her purse and held it up. “Smile, Marty!”

Marty winced at flash and rubbed the blue spots out of his eyes as Lorraine shook the freshly printed photo. “Hey since when did we have a polaroid?” he asked.

“Since your mother and I went on that trip to Alaska for our anniversary. I could’ve sworn we showed you kids those pictures,” George said.

“Well, I’d love to hear about it later. I gotta run now, though.”

“Alright, well, have fun, and don’t get into too much trouble, okay? Love you, see you when you get home,” Lorraine said.

“Love you too. I’ll call if I spend the night somewhere.” That was another phrase that Marty wasn’t used to hearing, at least from his parents. Sure, they said it often enough before that it wasn’t a total shock to Marty in the new timeline, but the old George and Lorraine never said it like the new George and Lorraine did.

Marty tossed the thought into the back of his mind as he turned to find Jennifer. It was easier now that most of their peers had left the football field. Luckily for him, she had just finished talking to her parents too, but by her expression, he figured it wasn’t a very pleasant conversation. Her frustrated glare had softened when she saw Marty again though.

“Hey,” she said as she took off her cap, “I’m ready to get out of here. You?”

“Yeah, now that I found you, of course.” He flashed a grin and put his arm around her shoulders. “Hey you wanna grab some dinner before we head over to Lee’s place?”

“Yeah, as long as it gets me away from here.”

“Is everything okay?”

Jennifer shook her head. “I got into another fight with my parents. I told them about tonight and of course they got mad at me. They wouldn’t even listen when I said that Bobby’s girlfriend was gonna be there too. ‘Girls like you shouldn’t be hanging out with so many boys’ this and ‘You need to start studying for the LSATs  _ now _ ” that. I honestly can’t wait to move out. They’re getting on my last nerves.”

Marty nodded and escorted Jennifer back to his truck. “Well, you’ll be free from them soon, and you won’t have to deal with them anymore.”

Jennifer tore off her gown revealing the short light blue dress that was underneath and stuffed the cap and gown back in the paper bag. She handed the bag over to Marty and quickly fixed her hair before getting into the truck. Marty removed his own graduation attire along with his blazer and stuffed it all into the bag before throwing it into the extremely narrow backseat of the truck. 

“What did you say my dad was in the messed-up Hill Valley?”

Marty slid into the driver’s seat. “Jeez, which one?”

“The one with all the ‘Big Brother’ shit and Doc was all messed up.”

“Oh  _ that _ one. He was a cop.”

Jennifer chewed her lip and nodded. “Yeah I can see that. C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

“Where to, Jen?”

“Surprise me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took so long to finish! I wanted to get this up sooner, but I was going through a bit of a creative slump, and I had some other projects that I was working on as well. Hopefully the length on this one makes up for my prolonged absence. I tried something new with the flashback. Perhaps I'll write more pre-canon fics of when Marty was really young, or maybe I'll just stick to keeping them as little flashbacks within these chapters.   
> As always, comments are greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading! Here's hoping that chapter 3 will be out soon (though I can't make any promises (': )


	3. Cough Syrup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Marty goes over to spend time with Jules and Verne, he soon finds himself caught up in a night he'll never forget.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "If I could find a way to see this straight, I'd run away  
> To some fortune that I, I should have found by now  
> And so I run to the things they said could restore me  
> Restore life the way it should be  
> I'm waiting for this cough syrup to come down"  
> -Cough Syrup, Young the Giant

**Saturday June 21, 1986, 7:00 PM**

The golden rays of the setting sun shone through the upstairs bedroom that Jules and Verne shared. They had just finished assembling a model train set that Jules himself designed.

“--and that should complete it! Alright, Verne, flip the switch!”

Sparks flew from the switch as soon as Jules gave the command to his brother, causing Verne to flinch and retreat in a frightened frenzy. The toy train had been sent barreling down the track at ramming speed. It was a bit too fast, however, when instead of simply turning the corner, it was sent flying off the track and straight towards the door that had just opened.

“Woah there!” Marty yelped as he caught the toy train in his hands. “Hey I thought you guys were gonna wait until I got here before we set up the train!”

“Well you were taking too long, slowpoke! You said you’d be here an hour ago, so we just started without you,” Verne said, crossing his arms in a disgruntled fashion.

“Verne is correct. Your tardiness is most uncharacteristic of you, Marty,” Jules added. 

Marty handed the toy train off to Jules and sat down on the bottom bunk. “Well that’s certainly the first time I heard that. I’m sorry, guys. I got caught up in traffic on my way over here. Plus I also had to stop somewhere to pick up a little something for you two!”

“Ooh! What is it? What is it?” Verne exclaimed as he rushed over to Marty’s side and began bouncing in place.

Marty pulled out a VHS copy of _Star Wars: Episode IV_ and showed it off to the two boys. “I rented it from that new Blockbuster that just opened. So what do you think about ordering a pizza and just kicking back and staying in tonight?”

With a resounding affirmative from the younger boys, the three of them rushed downstairs to the living room. Jules and Verne clambered onto the sofa where Einstein was sleeping. As Marty got off the phone with the local pizza place, he popped the tape into the VHS player and turned on the television. 

“Doc said you two have never seen a movie before, so I thought I’d be the one to show you your first. I think you’ll both really like it!”

Jules wasn’t exactly partial to most of the entertainment targeted at his age group. If you asked him why, he would respond with, “It’s loud, too brightly colored, and it’s all just so _simple_. I’d much rather immerse myself in a book than watch that trite.”

Verne on the other hand, had the opposite issue. He had trouble sitting through the documentaries Jules liked so much, and whenever he tried reading one of the books they shared, he would describe the words in such a way as, “The letters keep getting mixed up, and then they just all melt together! If I concentrate really hard, it looks fine, but it just takes too long.”

Yet, this _Star Wars_ was something the two brothers seemed to latch onto. Jules appreciated the space setting and the rather mature war backdrop the movie had, and Verne fell in love with the idea of being a space pilot like Han Solo. After the movie ended and the pizza box was down to two slices, the three of them decided to have an ameteur lightsaber duel to decide who would get the last slices.

Unfortunately, their duel of fates was cut short when Doc and Clara had returned home from their date night, and Doc picked up the near-empty pizza box from the coffee table.

“Hey! We were gonna eat that!” Verne cried out just before getting hit with a pillow by Jules. 

“Vernie, it’s almost eleven o’clock! You don’t need any more pizza right before bed,” Clara gently reasoned.

“Besides, if you save the pizza now, you can have it for breakfast in the morning!” Doc suggested.

Verne’s eyes widened as his jaw dropped to the floor. “You can _do_ that? Pizza for breakfast??? Hey, Skunkhead, first one downstairs tomorrow gets pizza for breakfast!”

“Alright, but if I win, you gotta stop calling me Skunkhead too!”

Clara smiled and ruffled her sons’ hair. “Alright you two, I think it’s about time you both head off to bed. You need your rest if you wanna get to the fridge before the other one,” she chirped. As the two brothers rushed upstairs, she turned to Marty. “Thanks for watching them tonight. They really look up to you, and they’re always hounding us for when we’re going on our next date night so they can spend time with just you.”

“Hey it’s no trouble at all, ma’am. I love those little rascals! They’re kinda like the little brothers I never had.”

“Funny you mention that,” said Doc from the kitchen, “because whenever they talk about you, they act like you’re their big brother!”

_“Give it back, Dave!”_

_“What are you gonna do, cry about it? That’s all you are, isn’t it, Linda? Crybaby Linda!”_

_“I’m not a crybaby!” Linda jumped up again to try and grab her stuffed rabbit from her older brother as he waved it over her head._

_“C’mon, Dave, this isn’t funny anymore. Leave her alone!”_

_Dave glared at Marty. “Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it?” he spat._

_“I’ll,” Marty’s eyes darted around the room, “fight you. Yeah, I’ll fight you!” He raised up his fists in front of his face._

_“Oh look at me, I’m_ so _scared! Please, you can’t even jump off the dock at the shallow part of the lake! Face it, you’re too_ chicken _to throw a punch!”_

_Marty’s face scrunched up when he heard that name Dave called him. Ever since he was old enough to walk and talk, he was victim to Dave’s tormenting. Whenever Marty told his parents to get him to stop, they would always tell him that that’s just what big brothers did._

_“Your uncles would get into fights all the time, Marty, that’s just the way little boys are,” his mother would tell him as she unloaded Tupperware stock. “Dave is just rough because that’s how boys are, Marty. Now please, I have paperwork to finish,” his father would drone._

_“Boys will be boys.”_

_It didn’t matter how they tried to spin it. That was always the answer Marty got._

_“I’m not chicken! Stop calling me that!”_

_Dave threw the rabbit plush at the opposite wall, but Linda stayed to watch what her brothers did next. “Then prove it! Go on, hit me!”_

_Marty threw his fist as hard as he could straight into Dave’s stomach, but his older brother hardly even flinched._

_“Hmm. Well, I definitely wasn’t expecting that. Alright, shrimp, so you’re not chicken… in a fight.”_

_“What’s that supposed to mean?”_

_Dave smirked and crossed his arms. “It means what I said it means. I’m still not fully convinced. If you really wanna prove it, then go steal one of Mom’s cigarettes and smoke one right here.”_

_An ice spike shot down through Marty’s spine. “No way! She’ll kill me when she finds out!”_

_Dave held up a finger. “Ah- No, not_ when _she finds out._ If _she finds out!”_

_“You’re gonna lie to Mom?”_

_“_ We’re _gonna lie to Mom.” He shot Linda a look. “And that includes you.”_

_She mocked a locking motion over her mouth. “My lips are sealed. It’s not like it’s the first time I lied to her to get out of trouble, anyway.”_

_Dave nodded and looked back to Marty. “See? And you know Linda’s great at keeping secrets. C’mon, what’s the worst that could happen? Especially when you have your big brother Dave looking out for you?”_

“Oh, Marty, if you wanna stay the night, your room is all made up. I know how much you don’t like driving this late,” Clara said.

“Oh yeah, I forgot I actually had a room here.”

“Well that’s funny, you used to come spend the night all the time when we first set up our life in 1986,” Doc said. “Don’t you remember?”

Marty rubbed the back of his neck and leaned against the back of the sofa. “Not exactly. Ah jeez, I keep forgetting to tell you about my trip to 1931, Doc.”

“Well, why don’t you tell me in the morning? After you’ve had some sleep, hmm?”

Marty nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”

Marty’s room at the Brown residence wasn’t too unlike his own room at home. A few of the missing items he had noticed from his original room had found their way to this new room. Things like the framed photograph of Doc and Marty in 1885, the letter Doc wrote for Marty to receive in 1955, and the taped up letter that Marty wrote for Doc to read in 1985. There were a few other more mundane things that had migrated from Marty’s room at home, but those didn’t stick out as much to Marty. 

He threw himself on the bed that was supposedly his. It was much bigger than the one that he was used to at the lab, but it was still just as comfortable. It was still just as well-used.

_The door had just opened at the right time. Or was it the wrong time? Whichever way you go about thinking about it, George and Lorraine McFly had just opened the door to witness their youngest son stand over the living room rug, which was currently on fire._

_“MARTIN SEAMUS MCFLY!” Lorraine shrieked as George rushed for the fire extinguisher in the kitchen. Once the fire was put out, she knelt down and put her hands on Marty’s tiny shoulders. “What on earth were you thinking? Do you have any idea how much that rug cost?”_

_Tears were flooding down Marty’s face now. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to! It was all Dave’s fault!” he sobbed._

_Dave and Linda slowly emerged from their rooms they had previously retreated to once the rug went up in flames. Lorraine looked over to her oldest son. “David, what do you know about this?”_

_He gulped at the sound of his full first name. “What happened?”_

_“Rugs don’t just burn themselves!”_

_Dave pretended to be shocked to see the charred carpet. “Gosh, Mommy, I have no idea how this happened!”_

_“Well, Marty says it was your fault.”_

_Marty looked up at his brother with a desperate look in his eyes. Dave looked back with a sly grin. “Well he’s a liar! I was in my room the whole time! He probably wanted to burn the house down because he hates our family. Or maybe he just did it for attention.”_

_Lorraine’s gaze shifted to her daughter. “Linda, is he telling the truth?”_

_She looked between her two brothers. Marty was crying even more now. She slowly nodded at her mother. “Yes, Mommy. Marty’s lying because he’s just too chicken to get in real trouble.”_

_George cleared his throat which drew everyone’s attention to him. “I think there’s a lot of tension in here right now. Why don’t we settle this after dinner, alright? David, help me move the furniture so we can roll up the rug and get it out of here.”_

_“I can help too!” Marty sniffled._

_“I think you’ve done enough with the rug today. Why don’t you go clean your room like your mother and I have been asking you to all week?”_

When Marty had asked his brother about the rug incident under the guise of reminiscing, to no surprise to Marty, Dave had remembered it completely differently. At that point, Marty was already well aware he wasn’t in his native timeline any longer, so it only made sense that key moments in his life either happened differently or never happened at all. What caught Marty by surprise was that Dave had actually taken the blame. 

It was a lot easier to deal with inconsistent memories when there were only two major timelines to deal with.

Marty took out a spiral notebook and a pen from the desk and sat on his bed. He spent the rest of his waking hours that night trying to do the thing he seemed to struggle with most: thinking fourth dimensionally. He didn’t want to go to sleep until he figured it all out, but his body had other plans.

Marty woke up in his bed at home, his real home. The one in the timeline with the Twin Pine Mall. The timeline with Clayton Ravine. The timeline where his dad could possibly be the world record holder for “most years as a victim of bullying” and his mom was a drunk. The timeline where he thought Doc was dead.

That was, until he walked into his room. 

“Doc! What the hell are you doing here?” he said as he brought his blanket up to his neck.

“Making sure you’re okay before I leave.”

“Well, where are you going?”

Before Doc could answer, Marty heard a voice from just outside his room. It was his own voice. The voice soon entered the room, and Marty saw that it belonged to another him. The new Marty was nearly identical to himself save for a few small details like the way he parted his hair and the cut in his eyebrow.

“What’s taking you so long, Doc? This place makes me feel sick,” he heard the other Marty say.

“Just a few more moments, please.” Doc turned back to the Marty in bed. “Well, Marty--”

“Don’t call _him_ Marty! _I’m_ the _real_ Marty!”

Doc sighed. “Sorry. Martin, is everything in order? The timeline I mean?”

Marty looked between Doc and the other Marty. “I… I don’t understand. Am I back--”

“In the messed up timeline? The timeline I had just spent nearly six months wasting away in because of you?” the other Marty said, poking Marty’s chest. “The _wrong_ timeline? Yeah, you’re back alright.”

“Marty, go easy on him! He is you after all.”

The other Marty swatted Doc’s hand off his shoulder and leaned in closer to Marty’s face. “No. He isn’t. He’s just a pale imitation of the real thing. He’s the one who’s been posing as me and probably ruining my life even more. He stole my place.”

Marty glared at his other self. “Hang on, you wouldn’t even have such a good life in the first place if it weren’t for me! If it weren’t for me, this,” he gestured vaguely at the surrounding area meant to represent the lackluster timeline as a whole, “would be your life! So at least you could thank me, dammit!”

The other Marty stood up straight and scoffed. “Why should I thank you when you took everything away from me? Why should I thank you for erasing me?”

A pit fell in Marty’s stomach. “I--”

The other Marty shook his head and turned around. “I’ll be in the DeLorean, Doc. He’s just too sad to look at.” And then he left.

Doc breathed a heavy sigh and shook his head.

“Jesus, Doc, I never treated you like _that_ right?”

“He’s just upset.”

“Yeah but that doesn’t excuse him snapping at you like that!”

“I know. Listen, Martin--Marty. As I’m sure you’re probably well aware by now, I’m not the Doc from this timeline. I need to go back now. With the other Marty. My Marty.”

Marty stared up at his friend. “Doc, don’t leave me here.”

Doc made his way to the door and opened it. “I’m sorry, Marty. I’m afraid I don’t have a choice. It’s better this way. You’re home now.”

“Better this way? Doc, you know how bad this timeline is! Didn’t I tell you?”

He shook his head and stepped out into the hallway. “I need to go. I’m sorry, Marty,” he said as he shut the door.

Marty bolted out of bed and tried to follow Doc, but found that his door was locked from the outside. “Doc! Please don’t leave me here!” He started banging on the door. “Don’t leave me! I can’t stay here! Please, Doc! I’m begging you! Don’t leave me here!”

“Don’t leave me!” Marty cried as he shot upright in his bed. It wasn’t any bed he ever had at his own home, it was the bed he fell asleep in. He brought his knees up to his chest and hugged his legs. Soon enough, there was a knock on his door. “Marty?” It was Clara. “Can I come in?”

Marty rubbed his hand over his face. “Yeah, door’s unlocked.”

Clara stepped in and left the door ajar behind her. “I heard something, and I wanted to check up on ya. Is everything alright?”

“Yeah um…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, everything’s fine. Living the dream…” He winced at that last comment.

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

Marty nodded. “It’s just… It’s just hard dealing with the whole time travel thing.” He glanced down at the notebook where he had attempted to chart the timelines he had been through. “I’m so far away from home, and there’s no way for me to go back. Not that I really _want_ to go back. My original timeline… well it was terrible, but…”

“Sometimes you feel like you were never meant to leave it?”

He looked up at Clara. “Yeah, how did you know?”

“Oh, just a lucky guess, I suppose.” She sat down next to him and cracked a small smile and patted his shoulder. “Believe me, I know what you’re going through, Marty. It wasn’t easy for me either when Emmett told me about what would’ve become of me if you two weren’t there that day. I’m not saying it gets easier over time… but I find it helps to talk about it with someone.”

Marty leaned his head on Clara’s shoulder. “Can I talk about it with you?”

“Of course! What’s on your mind?”

Marty took a deep breath. “Well, it all started last October…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Threw a little bait and switch in there for y'all there, didn't I? I, like so many others, really wanted to dig into some of that time travel baggage that Marty would most definitely have, which I'm starting to see is starting to become a running thing with this fic. I tried my hand at another flashback in this chapter, this time giving my take on how the living room rug was set on fire. 
> 
> As the title and beginning notes suggest, this chapter was (semi) inspired by the song Cough Syrup by Young the Giant. I was listening to it earlier this month on a road trip through Montana, and for some reason it just hit me harder than it ever had before, so I wanted to use that to fuel this chapter. I might make the next chapter a direct follow-up to this, or I might not! We'll see.
> 
> I'm so sorry that this chapter took so long. In between working on this, my friend got me back into tf2, so I've been writing some stuff with her that will most likely never be published because it's incredibly specific and purely self-indulgent. I think it was good for me to focus on something else for a while though because I was just kinda stuck on this chapter for a hot minute. Either way, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! As always, any and all feedback is welcome and appreciated!


	4. 10:04

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marty has an interesting conversation with his dad across from the defunct clock tower.

**Saturday November 12, 1955, 9:55 PM**

“This one’s mine,” Lorraine said as George pulled up to the front of her house. “Thank you again for tonight. I mean, you practically saved my life.”

George put the car in park and gave a boyish grin. “Oh it’s no trouble. Sometimes you gotta go on a limb for the ones you love, right?”

Lorraine smiled and pushed her hair back behind her ear. “Yeah, I guess that’s true. Hey, do you think that Marty will be alright? I mean, where did he even come from?”

George looked out the window and then back at Lorraine. “To be honest, I have no idea, but something tells me that everything’s gonna be okay. He did say that we would see him again.”

“Right,” she nodded. “There’s just something that makes me worried about it, and I can’t quite place it.” She swatted the air. “Oh well, it’s probably nothing. Say, do you got a watch?”

“It’s a little before ten.”

“Aw jeez, I better head in then.” Lorraine hastily put on her white sweater. “Thanks again for giving me a ride home.”

“You’re welcome!” Before Lorraine fully left the car, George had one last thing to say, “Uh, are you busy Friday night? I was thinking we could go to the drive-in or something?”

“Are you asking me on a date, George?” she lilted.

“If you would like to go on a date, then yes!” 

She beamed back at him. “Then, no I’m not busy. You can pick me up at six.”

“Then it’s a date! See you at school?”

“Yeah! See you, George! Oh, I think it’s gonna rain tonight, be careful driving!”

“Thanks. I only live a few streets down, so I won’t have to stay out too long I hope.”

“Alright then. Take care!” She closed the car door behind her and waved to George as he drove away.

Come Monday morning, the both of them would find out that the very night of the dance, lightning had struck the clock tower, freezing it forever at 10:04. Unbeknownst to either of them, the boy they had gotten to know for the past week had leapt thirty years into the future at that precise moment.

And only thirty-two years later, George would find himself sitting with his youngest son on a bench just across the clock tower.

“Why’d you pick this spot to talk, dad?” Marty asked.

“Oh, I just happened to pick at random. I guess it was on my mind because today’s the anniversary of when it was struck by lightning.”

“Right.” Marty stared at the pavement and buried his hands in his pockets. “So what did you want to talk about exactly?”

“Well, I thought that it would be nice if we had some time before you left for LA tomorrow. Y’know like how we used to when you were a kid.”

Marty’s shoulders tensed. “Yeah I guess we did use to have talks like this.”

George noticed the unease in Marty’s composure and gently patted his shoulder. “What’s on your mind?”

“Nothing,” Marty answered defensively.

“It doesn’t  _ sound _ like nothing,” George said, raising an eyebrow.

Marty raked his hands back through his hair and leaned forward with his arms crossed. “Everything’s fine, okay? Besides, you wouldn’t understand if I told you.”

“I hate to break it to you, Marty, but you haven’t really been ‘fine’ for the past two years. What happened?”

“You really wanna know?”

“If you think it would help, then yes.”

“Alright.” Marty straightened up and turned to his dad. “Remember mom’s date to that dance all those years ago? The same night you and mom kissed for the first time?”

“Yes. Calvin Klein. I’m surprised you haven’t met him since he was Dr. Brown’s nephew and all.”

Marty rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, it’s kind of impossible for me to meet him because he’s--”

“He’s you,” George said with a matter-of-fact tone.

“How’d you know?” Marty gaped.

“Well, I had my suspicions. For starters, you look a hell of a lot like him. I thought at first that your mother was having an affair, but quickly ruled that out when I found out that there was no trace of him after that night. Plus the amount of times that ‘Calvin’ called me ‘dad’ was a bit telling in retrospect.”

Marty clutched his forehead, remembering his various slip-ups. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

George wrapped his arm around his son. “Well, I didn’t want to make things harder for you to adjust. I thought it would be easier to let you tell me whenever you felt ready, if at all.”

“That makes sense.” Marty took a deep breath. “Well, thanks, dad. For understanding.”

“That’s what I’m here for, right?”

“Yeah.” He looked back up at the large clock stuck at 10:04. “Thanks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this took a long time to get up huh. I wanted to get it posted for November 12, but I've been sick since the 11th and that basically killed all my motivation for a good while. I think I'm at the tail end of it now, but it's just been a whole process. I will say, I'm not really too thrilled with how this turned out, but I figured I should just get it done and out here before I end up unintentionally abandoning this project. I might go back and revise it when I'm feeling better, but unfortunately I can't promise anything.  
> Well anyway, as always any feedback is appreciated! Thanks for reading!


	5. Into the Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marty spends the night at Doc's house after a long night at the hospital with Jennifer. Before going to sleep though, they have an overdue chat about time travel.

**Saturday October 26, 1996, 1:49 AM**

As soon as he opened the door, Marty face planted on the couch, not even bothering to close it behind him. Before he could even think about catching any sleep, The sound of familiar footsteps approached the living room. “How did it go?” said an equally familiar voice.

Marty sat up, rubbing the drowsiness from his eyes. “Well, the world has one more McFly now. Thanks again for letting me crash here tonight, Doc.”

“It’s no trouble at all! You’re always welcome to come over. So when do you and Jennifer get to bring little Marlene home?”

“Uh, I think the doctor said like two days? I don’t exactly remember. I was sorta caught up in the moment of everything. But as soon as we do bring her home, I want you and Clara to be the first ones to meet her,” he said with an exhausted smile.

Doc let out a small chuckle. “And why not your parents?”

Marty shrugged. “I dunno, I just kinda feel like it wouldn’t be right if you guys weren’t the first ones to meet her. You, Clara, and the boys feel more like family than, well, my actual family.”

“Hmm.” Doc moved his hand to rub his chin. “Mind if I sit for a while?”

“Yeah, sure go ahead.”

Doc nodded and took the armchair from across Marty. “So what makes you say that you feel more connected to us than your own family?”

“C’mon, Doc, isn’t it obvious? The amount of time I’ve spent here during middle school alone should be all the reason you need as to why.”

“Middle school? Marty, we didn’t meet until the summer of ‘83. Er, I suppose that was the you from this timeline,” Doc said.

“Yeah. Hey, not to derail the conversation, but what the hell happened to him? That night in the parking lot I saw him drive off just like I did, but where did he go? I mean  _ when  _ did he go?” Marty asked, leaning on the armrest.

_ The knock at the door interrupted Doctor Brown setting up the equipment for his mind-reading experiment. Disgruntled and annoyed, he answered the door to a teenage boy wearing a life preserver for some reason. _

_ “Whatever you’re selling, I’m not buying,” he said before the boy could even open his mouth. _

_ “Wait, Doc, I’m not selling anything! I need your help,” the boy responded with desperation. _

_ Doctor Brown sighed. “What is it? I’m quite busy you know.” _

_ “I’m from the future. I came here in a time machine that you invented, and now I need your help to get back to the year 1985.” _

_ “Hmmpf.” Doctor Brown crossed his arms. “You kids are getting creative with your pranks. It’s a very interesting story, future boy, but I haven’t invented any time machine. Good day,” he asserted before shutting the door. _

_ When he turned around, he heard a muffled “Wait!” With his back to the door, he couldn’t help but listen to what the boy had to say. “The bruise on your head! I know how that happened; you told me the whole story!” _

_ The following week was somewhat uneventful considering what had happened the Saturday prior, and what was going to happen the Saturday to come. “Can’t I go out at least once please? Being cooped up in this place is driving me crazy!” Marty whined from the couch. _

_ “Out of the question,” Doc answered. “If you run into your father again or even your mother, the consequences could be disastrous! One run-in with him at the cafe is already too excessive. No, you’re staying in this house.” _

_ “Well, can I at least help you with that channeling rod thingy that’s supposed to get me home?” _

_ Doc shook his head. “I work better alone.” _

_ Marty groaned and rolled himself off the couch, landing on the floor. “I hate the fifties…” he grumbled into the rug. _

“Well, my memory is a bit fuzzy after forty-seven-ish years, but I suppose the least I could say is that he did wind up in 1955 on the same day you did,” Doc suggested.

“Let me guess, you remember two different versions of what happened?”

“Yes, actually. I guess time travel is funny that way. Anyway, back to the topic at hand…”

Marty rubbed his neck. “Right, so, yeah I started working for you when I was like eleven. It was mostly walking Einstein and running errands, but over time I just ended up spending more and more time over there because… I dunno I guess I just felt safer there.”

“Safer?”

“I don’t know. I’m tired and my brain is mush from stress right now.”

“I see.” Doc relaxed in his chair. “You never really spoke much about your life before time travel.”

“I talk to Clara and Jennifer about it mostly. I didn’t wanna make you feel bad because of what I’ve put myself through. You already have enough on your conscience,” Marty said.

“Fair enough.”

For a while there was no sound in the room other than the ticking of the clock and the creaks from the house settling.

“You said I had a daughter,” Marty peeped, breaking the silence.

“When did I say that?”

“In 2015. You told me she was gonna break my son out of jail.”

Doc didn’t say anything.

“Is that what Marlene was going to do nineteen years from now? But now that’s not gonna happen now, right?”

“Assuming that your son never goes with Griff that night, then you’d be correct.”

Marty stared at the ceiling. “Huh. I guess that’s okay then,” he said with a smile.

“Everything alright?”

Marty stretched out across the couch. “Yeah. Everything’s okay I think. Everything’s gonna be okay,” he yawned.

Doc rose from the chair and grabbed a blanket from the basket by the couch. “What’s the smile for?”

“Well, it’s just that all this time I’ve been trying to make sure I live my life right so that I don’t mess up the future on accident, but now, I get it. It doesn’t matter how the future happens because really, what we did in 2015 already happened. That’s just one possibility of what  _ could _ happen. But it doesn’t matter if it happens again because it’s not set in stone.

“I guess in a way I always understood that, but now I  _ get _ it. It’s sorta like physics. It’s easy to understand when you just explain it, but when you see all these concepts in action, you  _ get _ it. And now I’m here one step closer to the future that I already knew was coming. I don’t know if it’ll be the same as the one we saw, but whatever happens, I think I’ll be okay with.”

“Well that’s good to hear. I’m glad everything is finally making sense for you,” Doc chirped.

“Yeah. It took a while, but I got there eventually." He covered himself with the blanket that Doc offered him. Right as Doc turned to go back upstairs, Marty cleared his throat to ask one more thing. "So what's next for you?"

"Well," Doc exhaled, "Jules is off at college and Verne isn't too far behind. To be honest 'what comes next' hasn't really crossed my mind. Before I looked you up in 2015, I made sure to look myself up. Didn't find any sort of Emmett L. Brown alive."

"So your future really was gonna be what you made of it."

"Precisely. I simply let the pieces fall where they may. I'm glad you're doing the same now."

Marty rested his head on one of the throw pillows. "Thanks, Doc."

"For what?"

"Everything. For bringing me to the future."

Doc gave a warm smile. "Well, it was bound to happen eventually."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that's the end of it. I did have more ideas but upon more in-depth thinking I realized I didn't really have enough to write about. Sometimes that happens and you just have to let the idea go.   
> That being said, I do have another idea for a story that I haven't really seen done before, so I think it'll be interesting to see where it takes me.   
> As always comments and critiques are welcome and much appreciated! Thanks for reading!


End file.
